Freshman scored 17 points while playing tough defense on Sunday

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- If Josh Scott was facing the so-called freshman wall, it appears the 6-10 forward has scaled it.

Not coincidentally, Colorado is over .500 in Pac-12 play for the first time this season with five of its final seven remaining regular-season games to be contested at the Coors Events Center.

After three relatively quiet performances by Scott's lofty standards, CU's fundamental freshman finished 7-for-10 from the floor with 17 points during Sunday night's pivotal 72-68 victory over Oregon State at Gill Coliseum.

On the other end, Scott helped keep gifted Beavers forwards Devon Collier (3-for-11, six points) and Eric Moreland (0-for-2, one point) from doing any significant damage.

Scott only had four rebounds, but three of them came on the offensive glass. The Buffs had 13 second-chance points against the long and athletic Oregon State big men.

"The thing I keep challenging Josh about is rebounding the ball," CU head coach Tad Boyle said after Scott's best offensive output since he scored 18 points in the loss to UCLA on Jan. 12. "I know he can shoot it when he's down there. Josh was very good for us (Sunday) and finished in traffic when we needed him to."

Before the team traveled to Utah for the first of three consecutive road games, Scott was feeling the wear and tear from the physical home stand with Stanford and Cal.

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"I'm tired," Scott said before the Buffs' disappointing 58-55 loss to the Utes in Salt Lake City. "That just comes with playing as many minutes as I do and as hard as I do."

In the three games leading up to the win over the Beavers, Scott averaged 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds. He was 7-for-19 shooting (36.8 percent) during the difficult stretch.

Scott, who is currently listed at 210 pounds, plans to add between 20 and 30 pounds of muscle to his frame before his college days in Boulder are over.

"Trust me, I'm going to be new and improved next year," Scott said. "Better watch out."

Several Pac-12 teams have already designed defenses to stop Scott this season. He is working on recognizing and reacting to having a second defender running at him when he gets the ball in down low.

"I think that's really cool as a freshman to say I've been double-teamed in the post," Scott said. "It's definitely a compliment and it makes me work on my passing to become more of a complete player."

Boyle said Scott will also start knocking down trailing 3-pointers in transition as his game develops. He is 1-for-1 behind the arc this season.

Scott should benefit greatly from having Wesley Gordon playing beside him over the next three seasons. The powerful 6-7 forward is helping his former Colorado Springs high school rival get over the wall in practice.

"Wesley is getting way better and he's doing what he's supposed to be doing, putting on weight," Scott said of Gordon, who is redshirting along with classmate Chris Jenkins this year. "I think he's getting tired of redshirting. I think he's excited to play next year, and I'm excited to play with him. He's a good competitor. I still say he's one of the best shot blockers of his size. I get challenged by him every day."

Scott and the surging Buffs (16-7, 6-5) host No. 9 Arizona on Thursday. He had 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting during CU's 92-83 overtime loss in Tucson on Jan. 3.

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